Soviet Violations Undermining Arms Control, Adelman Says

The U.S. disarmament director said today that the Reagan Administration’s willingness to reach new superpower arms control treaties is dwindling because the Soviet Union continues to violate pacts.

Kenneth L. Adelman, director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, told a news conference: “Our patience is limited. You cannot have a viable arms control agreement in the future if the Soviet violations continue.

“Parties to agreements must honor all their obligations and commitments. We all believe that there cannot be an arms control arrangement based on a double standard--one of our complete compliance and their cheating.”

Asked at what point the United States would stop negotiating with the Soviets if the violations continued, Adelman said, “You can’t say, ‘at Wednesday at 2 o’clock we’ve had enough,’ but it calls into question the future of the arms control process and we consider this the biggest problem in the process.”

Adelman released what he said was the most comprehensive public report the Administration has made about Soviet violations. He said there were no new allegations in the document or indications that the violations had worsened in the last three years, but that the report was issued to remind the Soviets and the American public about U.S. concerns.